


In the Next Life

by orphan_account



Category: Naruto
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Assassins & Hitmen, Gen, Prostitution
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-05-05
Updated: 2014-05-05
Packaged: 2018-01-22 03:00:46
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 657
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1573628
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>She was the queen and he her loyal knight; no one knew it was such, but the truth stared him in the face each waking moment and he wouldn't have it any other way.</p>
            </blockquote>





	In the Next Life

**Author's Note:**

> Inspired by the following songs:  
> "Royals" by Lorde  
> "Hurt" by Johnny Cash  
> "Motion Picture Soundtrack" by Radiohead

The first drop was startling in its warmth and heavy momentum and he flinched at its contact as it landed in the center of his head. Each subsequent drop seemed lighter and colder than the last and left spotted shade on his skin and clothing, weighing him down. Nonetheless, he moved deftly through dark alleyways and reached his destination before thunder struck; his entrance was graced with little light and even less sound.

Outside of her walls rang the sounds gunshots and cries of another victim and he mourned the pure and simple tactlessness of the everyday criminal as he flung the curtains open without warning. She was there, sitting there on the bed with the sheets bunched around her waist and her fingers loosely curled around a dead cigarette that never had been lit. A man he'd had never once laid eyes on was sprawled out over top of the covers beside her, naked. His chest was painted with drying red something and Kakashi traced the trails of it up to the twin gashes on the man's shoulders, then to the deep slash across the man's throat. Blood, then. Dead, then.

Her sheets were deep red and the blood was beginning to crust into a terribly dirty brown that he knew would take at least five dollars to clean off. It was almost worth tossing them along with the body. "Hey, what'd I tell you about letting me take care of these things?" he asked her, nodding towards the man.

"Where's the fun in that?"

"Your fun isn't the same as my fun—especially when your fun means that I have to get rid of a body and its evidence."

"Eh, lighten up 'Kashi."

He sighed and forced the window open, pushing past its familiar sticks. Damp air rushed in; it would be humid but preferable to the smell of smoked blood.

"Listen. I've got one more job for you and then you're free to do whatever, 's long as you don't come back to see me." And that was surprising, more surprising than the rain. "Heh. I s'pose that might be a little hard for ya. But what'd I tell you?" She'd said not to get attached, and he hadn't—not really. It just might be strange, for some time, to pass by her apartment and have no reason to head in. He turned back to her in time to see her eyes flicker to an envelope on the windowsill that he'd assumed was just filled with a repaid debt. "Deets in there. Oh, and, uh, don't worry about this guy." He knew without looking that she was running a hand through the man's bloodied hair. "I'll take care of him. Clean up after myself for once. Think of it as your payment this time 'round."

The details were few and made him smile, a real smile that he'd been foregoing lately. "Clean up after yourself, you said? I always did admire you."

She grinned in return. "Could hardly hide something like that from me." As he moved away from her, she let her fingers linger over his mask. "Hey. Let me see you once before you leave, little scarecrow." The corners of her lips twitched just so at the sight of his face. "You're almost too pretty to let go, 'Kashi."

Almost, he knew, would never be enough. "I'm sure you'll forget it soon. Later." He waved for a moment and leapt out her window, landing lightly on the balcony a floor below. As he ran once again through the city streets, he chuckled to himself. It was the last time he'd see the way the moonlight glint off glass buildings and the river, the last time he'd see the way clouds seem to move faster over the moon than the sun, the last time he'd taste the air after a thunderstorm, and all he could do was picture her face. It seemed fitting.


End file.
